Mumbai: Indian Inc is seeing rising percentage of adoption and surrogacy as 70% of studied350 companies in India offer an average of 4.7 months paid leave for adoptive mothers and 15% of studied 350 companies in India sponsor their women employees for infertility treatments. This was revealed by first edition of Best Companies for Women in India (BCWI) study 2016 conducted by AVTAR Group, India’s first diversity advocate and workplace inclusion expert, and Working Mother Media, a celebrated gender-parity champion in the US.
The reported also published list of best companies for women in India. In the list tech companies have dominated the top ten places while business consulting companies represent the second in the list. The tech players Cummins India, IBM India, Intel Technology India, Mindtree Technologies, and Accenture Services Private Limited are in the list. Three business consulting companies EY India, Deloitte in India, and Morgan Stanley are in Ten Best Companies for Women in India.
ICICI Bank, the only banker, is in the list while FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever Limited has featured in the list.
The Best Companies for Women in India Study 2016, instituted by Working Mother in partnership with AVTAR Group, aims to identify best practices and policies followed by companies for increasing women’s workforce participation. The study was conducted amongst 350 participated, biggest employers in the country and lists the 100 Best Companies for Women in India.
The study further reveals that 86% of companies have introduced paternity policies at workplace as an aid for Young working mothers. An average of seven days paid paternity leave is the most sought after policy of the year 2016 states BCWI Study 2016.
With 30% of companies introducing strong formalized returnship programs, second career programs stand out to be the most effective initiatives for helping young mothers in rejoining the workforce. 52% of Companies allow for an average of 6.3 months of phase-back (in addition to paid maternity leave) for young mothers rejoining after their maternity breaks.
Commenting on the increasing focus on young mothers at workplace, Dr. Saundarya Rajesh, Founder – President, AVTAR Group said, “The 100 Best Companies for Women in India have exemplary policies that can plug the women talent drain. These policies cushion the career paths for women professionals during key life events such as maternity and help in the retention and growth of these women. We salute these visionary companies whose policies are rightfully compassed towards gender balance! I’m confident the insights from this first edition will set a benchmark for companies to further strengthen their Women inclusive HR policies.”
Ms. Subha Barry, Vice President& General Manager , Working Mother Media, commented, “We are very proud and excited to recognize these extraordinary companies who excel in their progressive policies and leadership programs to advance women here.The winning companies are models of excellence, not only to attract the best employees, but to retain and promote them as well.”
Day care services, tuition reimbursement and sponsored care are some of the best in class practices adopted by India Inc to retain women in workforce. The study further states that 60% of companies rate Remote work, flexi-time , partial work and partial pay as the most favored flexible working arrangements for working mothers. Deloitte in India,
The Best Companies for Women in India (BCWI) (in alphabetical order, List consists of 11 companies)
Accenture
Cummins India
Deloitte in India
EY India
Hindustan Unilever Limited
IBM India
ICICI Bank
Intel Technology India
Mindtree Technologies
Morgan Stanley
People Combine Educational Initiatives
